posted at 8:01 am on August 12, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Bloomberg News caught the Department of Justice in a particularly noteworthy Friday-night news dump over the weekend. The Obama administration, stung by accusations from the Left that it hadn’t gone after fraudulent mortgages and the lenders that helped fuel the bubble, claimed that a year-long initiative run by the Mortgage Fraud Working Group in the DoJ had charged 530 people who had victimized 73,000 people. When Bloomberg’s reporters began digging into the claim, the DoJ stonewalled — and then finally admitted it cooked the books themselves:

The Justice Department made a long-overdue disclosure late Friday: Last year when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder boasted about the successes that a high-profile task force racked up pursuing mortgage fraud, the numbers he trumpeted were grossly overstated.

We’re not talking small differences here. Originally the Justice Department said 530 people were charged criminally as part of a year-long initiative by the multi-agency Mortgage Fraud Working Group. It now says the actual figure was 107 — or 80 percent less. Holder originally said the defendants had victimized more than 73,000 American homeowners. That number was revised to 17,185, while estimates of homeowner losses associated with the frauds dropped to $95 million from $1 billion.

Hey, they only inflated those claims by 80% and 9o% — or looking at it from the other direction, 500% and 900%. Shouldn’t they get a chance to round up to the nearest 1000%? If you’re wondering what prompted this sudden outbreak of honesty, Bloomberg explains that two of its reporters had figured out the fraud:

The government restated the statistics because it got caught red-handed by a couple of nosy reporters. Last October, two days after Holder first publicized the numbers, Phil Mattingly and Tom Schoenberg of Bloomberg News broke the story that some of the cases included in the Justice Department’s tally occurred before the initiative began in October 2011. At least one was filed more than two years before President Barack Obama took office.

Jonathan Weil then played phone- and e-mail-tag with the DoJ spokesperson for a month, who promised Weil a list of those charged with fraud under the MFWG project. And promised. And promised. Instead, Weil wrote a column blasting Justice for stonewalling him.

The DoJ has finally corrected the record — late on a Friday, when few press outlets were around to note it. As it turns out, the original figure included people prosecuted or just sentenced in the same fiscal year, even though they had been charged with crimes long before the MFWG came into being. The victims were not limited to distressed homeowners, as the DoJ had originally claimed, and as Eric Holder himself bragged.

This isn’t the first time Holder has been caught cooking the books, Weil reminds us:

This was the second time, mind you, that Holder’s Justice Department had pulled a stunt like this. In December 2010, Holder held a press conference to tout a supposed sweep by the president’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force called “Operation Broken Trust.” (The mortgage-fraud program was part of the same task force.) As with the mortgage-fraud initiative, Broken Trust wasn’t actually a sweep. All the Justice Department did was lump together a bunch of small-fry, penny-ante fraud cases that had nothing to do with one another. Then it held a press gathering.

At least on that occasion, the Justice Department promptly provided me with a list of the defendants’ names and case details when I asked for them. That is how I was able to determine for a December 2010 column that the government’s Broken Trust numbers were inflated. Among the handful of cases on the list that I spot-checked, one defendant was sentenced to probation before the operation’s supposed start date. Another person on the list had no record of criminal charges. Other cases had nothing to do with any actions by the task force. The Justice Department still hasn’t restated the Broken Trust numbers — even though those statistics clearly were in error, too.

And people wonder why no one trusts government. Remember when Democrats and the media got so exercised about politicization at the Department of Justice when President Bush asked six political appointees in the US Attorney corps to resign? Good times, good times.

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It now says the actual figure was 107 — or 80 percent less. Holder originally said the defendants had victimized more than 73,000 American homeowners. That number was revised to 17,185, while estimates of homeowner losses associated with the frauds dropped to $95 million from $1 billion.

Rounding error. Right?

In the meantime, Drudge is reporting that Bo was airlifted to Martha’s vineyard on V-22. No room in Air Force One???? WTF? How much did that cost the American taxpayer? BTW, the White House is still closed for public tours because of lack of funding.

Fair warning to the trolls. I really am not in the mood for nonsense this morning.

OT: The left’s outrage of the day. In Missouri a rodeo clown donned an Obama mask (gasp). The left is furious – crying racism. How is an Obama mask racist? I seem to recall Nixon, Reagan and GWB masks being very popular.

Seriously. GWB’s “scandals” included a mission accomplished banner and legally firing 18 non-performing US Attorneys (one of which I can personally attest should have been fired).

With this administration, the scandals are becoming too numerous to keep straight and the media could care less. But hey, we know that from the time they left Florida to the time they ended up at Martha’s Vineyard the rat-eared coward changed into kakhis and the shaved Yeti put on a white and yellow summer dress. Priorities.

One thing is impressive, though. Investigative reporters doing actual investigations? I sure hope their taxes were properly filed; President Choom isn’t the least bit shy about siccing the IRS, DOJ, DHS, ATF, and all of the rest of the alphabet on those who speak the truth to power.

The left’s outrage of the day. In Missouri a rodeo clown donned an Obama mask (gasp). The left is furious – crying racism. How is an Obama mask racist? I seem to recall Nixon, Reagan and GWB masks being very popular.

TarheelBen on August 12, 2013 at 8:17 AM

Don’t try making sense of it. Remember that during the election “Chicago” and “Golf” were deemed to be racist. The system is rigged and the left will do anything to keep this worthless evil bastard in power. Since Bo was flown in separately, it truly is a shame that Air Force One didn’t experience engine troble taking out the filthy rat-eared bastard, the shaved-yeti, and their worthless brats.

OT: The left’s outrage of the day. In Missouri a rodeo clown donned an Obama mask (gasp). The left is furious – crying racism. How is an Obama mask racist? I seem to recall Nixon, Reagan and GWB masks being very popular.

We need to stop saying these things as they are vague and misleading. We should all be referring to the lsm as the fifth column. They should be called the tyrant’s propaganda arm. We should call them the ministry of propaganda. The Amerikan Pravda. There is no sense in calling them a bunch of prostitutes. That means nothing to the masses. As the downfall continues and our rights are eroded away, the press is a complicit and willing partner of the regime in this and should be held accountable, down to specific, high-profile individuals who have access to large mediums. These entities are truly traitorous.

Remember when Democrats and the media got so exercisedunreasonably outraged about politicization at the Department of Justice when President Bush asked six political appointees in the US Attorney corps to resign?

.
That still pisses me off. They serve at the pleasure of the president! Besides, they’re attorneys… they can get jobs in politically connected law firms.

Remember when Democrats and the media got so exercised unreasonably outraged about politicization at the Department of Justice when President Bush asked six political appointees in the US Attorney corps to resign?

Remember when President Clinton fired 93 US Attorneys and the Democrats said NOTHING?

We’re not talking small differences here. Originally the Justice Department said 530 people were charged criminally as part of a year-long initiative by the multi-agency Mortgage Fraud Working Group. It now says the actual figure was 107 — or 80 percent less. Holder originally said the defendants had victimized more than 73,000 American homeowners. That number was revised to 17,185, while estimates of homeowner losses associated with the frauds dropped to $95 million from $1 billion.

Despite the fact of the reporting, notice how the manner in which Forbes reports these matters tends to soften the blow for the DOJ.

First, sure, we’re told that DOJ claimed 530 people were charged when, in fact, only 107 were charged. But going on to say “80 percent less” seems mealy-mouthed. Readers’ eyes glaze over when asked to deal with percentages and fractions. Why not make readers’ eyes bulge by saying Holder inflated these numbers by five times or, sticking with percentages, overstated the actual figure by nearly 500%.

Second, regarding the homeowners victimized, again, we’re told that DOJ claimed associated losses were $1 billion when, in fact, the figure is $95 million. Still, by phrasing the correction “dropped to $95 million from $1 billion,” Forbes, again, seems to pull its punches. Dropped? How about stating plainly that the DOJ inflated its loss figures by ten times.

Forgive the quibbling, but so much of the bad news “reported” about the Obama administration is not reported in stark and accurate terms intended to inform readers in a common-sense and readily understandable way. Instead, too often we get glancing jabs written by people who are wringing their hands over the fact that they actually have to report bad news about their fellow travelers.

1 The people who don’t pay taxes (or certainly not their fair share) overwhelmingly support him.
2 The people who do pay taxes (and didn’t support him,)wind up paying for all the social welfare costs for people who do support him. In other words, the funding for Obama’s socialism comes from his enemies! Clever these Democrats!
3 And now, germane to this thread, one of the two reasons Obama gets by with scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal is that their sheer number (like a denial of service cyber attack) overwhelm the imagination and makes it virtually impossible to concentrate on any one item and they also create “scandal weariness”. A denial of service cyber attack causes a web site to be overwhelmed and shut down. A plethora of scandals, almost daily, causes the human mind to shut down.
4 But even point 3 would not be enough to hold Obama harmless were it not for the protective umbrella of an obsequious MSM.

I know lying is lying and we can just add this to the pile that never stops steaming but it doesn’t rank up there with jobs created or saved, the debt, deficit, denying health care to 30M people, the number of illegals, sequester damage, not spying on Americans, slowing walking requests from Conservative groups, etc etc. You’d think by now even the fellow travelers would get tired of being lied to. OP Broken Trust is aptly named.

I know lying is lying and we can just add this to the pile that never stops steaming but it doesn’t rank up there with jobs created or saved, the debt, deficit, denying health care to 30M people, the number of illegals, sequester damage, not spying on Americans, slowing walking requests from Conservative groups, etc etc. You’d think by now even the fellow travelers would get tired of being lied to. OP Broken Trust is aptly named.

Kissmygrits on August 12, 2013 at 9:34 AM

If people won’t vote because they’re guy didn’t get nominated or they’re too lazy to find out who or what they’re voting for, it really doesn’t matter does it?

OT: The left’s outrage of the day. In Missouri a rodeo clown donned an Obama mask (gasp). The left is furious – crying racism. How is an Obama mask racist? I seem to recall Nixon, Reagan and GWB masks being very popular.

The DoJ has finally corrected the record — late on a Friday, when few press outlets were around to note it.

You’d think that decent and diligent reporters with attention-spans greater than that of a fruitfly would love a Friday night release: it would give them the weekend to go through things carefully and thoroughly for a big story the next Monday and a week’s worth of talk. (I mean, you’d think.)